Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
macOS Monterey Brings Apple Fitness+ to the Mac With AirPlay
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yes, Apple Fitness+ is designed to be used with the watch because it uses metric data it gathers for activity and workout tracking. Those same metrics are used to show on screen your progress during your workout.
Yes.
Fitness+ uses an Apple Watch to gather sensor data (such as heart rate), and a big screen to show video. There's also various tie-ins, like the video announcer telling you to take a look at your current heart rate.
It's sort of an interactive video streaming service that way. It wouldn't make as much sense to use it without an Apple Watch altogether.
For on-screen Tracking etc....yes. And it makes for a much better experience in that you don't always have to have your phone present for workouts or walks.
Definitely better with the watch. That being said, still 100% useful and valuable without. The workouts benefit your health even if they aren't tracked....
It annoys me whenever I want to do a fitness+ workout and my watch is dead. Requiring the watch is all about the $$, imo. It isn't as if the workouts are dynamic and adapt based on inputs from the watch -- that would be cool though!
edit: totally forgot there is a workout without watch option on the phone (and I ipad, I assume). Much better! The watch is still required for the TV app though. Super frustrating when my watch shows 3% battery. Or it's dead.
Last edited:
I use Apple Fitness+ on the Apple TV and there are no black bars, so something somewhere is being cropped. I would think if Airplayed from the phone it could be made to look like it does on the AppleTV, on a TV.
I tried a couple of these back when I got a free trial with my Series 6, and found the blank vapid smiles of the participants creeped me right the hell out.
Working out is not fun, Apple. When I'm trying to push through a set, and I look and see the cast of The Book of Mormon on ecstacy grinning at me, I'm done.
At least Peloton has the decency to fill their studios with at least three of four members that are clearly hating life as much as I am 30 minutes in to a cal burn routine.
Working out is not fun, Apple. When I'm trying to push through a set, and I look and see the cast of The Book of Mormon on ecstacy grinning at me, I'm done.
At least Peloton has the decency to fill their studios with at least three of four members that are clearly hating life as much as I am 30 minutes in to a cal burn routine.
It was not possible until recently, and with OS Monterey you can now Airplay to a Mac itself.
You've quite clearly explained the issue I had with it as well. I took advantage of the 3-month free deal and liked it for the first month, got annoyed with it the second month, and abandoned it the third. I also agree with you about Peloton, plus several of the spinning instructors are easy on the eyes.
I think the Apple instructors could spend a little less time with the cumbaya crap and focusing more on the actual training regimen, providing tips on proper movement, diet, stretching, etc.
It is becoming easier to deploy apps on all devices but not yet instant. Apple has launched a lot of apps that are available on iOS, iPadOS, and Mac OS but not everything is there yet. I would imaging that the use case is not a strong for a Mac OS version so it's likely to not have been as much of a priority. Now that more Macs are coming out with Apple Silicon processors and the cross platform tools are more robust, hopefully they do bring fitness+ to the Mac as an app in the next year.
So is this truly Airplay and not some kind of handoff? It always irks me when I try to play something on the Apple TV ("Hey Siri, play such-and-such on the Living Room Apple TV") and I find out I'm burning through my phone battery playing it via Airplay instead of the Apple TV simply playing the thing that's a part of my Library already.
I agree. I want more than to see the video, I want to be able to get the full Fitness+ experience (metrics and all) on my Macintosh.
Or a spare monitor like I (and many I'm sure) have. Even a laptop screen makes a huge difference. I have an apple TV, but it's the living room that gets lot's of other use. I have a workout area, with gear, and that's where I need my fitness tool! Large enough and loud enough to motivate. I've done some workouts with apple TV, and that's great - just not putting my stationary bike there. Even with my 10.5" iPad however, I'm not getting what I need for full body movement workouts. Unfortunately, although my macs qualify for Monterey (updated now), they don't qualify for this airplay option, and the stats DO make a difference to me. An app would definitely be the solution, but I suspect this is going to be one of the silicon only developments.
Speaking of which, since the silicon macs can run iOS apps in virtual mode, can they run apple fitness already?
you need the "latest and greatest" mac... macos monterey compatible macs does not mean it works per se